Reports

All of the surveys received to date (97 completed in total) for TCAT’s Municipal Candidate Election Survey are being posted online.

Want to know how where the candidates in your ward stand on cycling and walking? Check out their responses here. Not sure which ward you live in? Check out the City’s website.

On April 23, 2010, TCAT organized a Complete Streets Forum at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto. There were also pre-conference activities on April 22, 2010 at various locations.

Building on the success of TCAT's Bike Summit 2008 and 2009, the Complete Streets Forum expanded the mandate and scope of TCAT's annual active transportation policy conference.

This month, Vélo Québec released Planning and Design for Pedestrians and Cyclists. This 150+ page technical guide is intended for planning professionals as well as active transportation advocates. According to Vélo Québec:

“The information in Planning and Design for Pedestrians and Cyclists is drawn from Vélo Québec's expertise in the field of active transportation and from the contributions of experts in matters of local planning, design and mobility.”

In a recent Pembina Institute Foundation report of transportation case studies in 6 Canadian cities found that 43% of Toronto commuters occasionally choose to walk, cycle or take transit, second only to the City of Montreal (46%). The number of Torontonians regularly commuting by walking and cycling increased from 2% in 2001 to 9% in 2006. However, Toronto has the fewest bike lanes and bike paths per capita (on-street 250 km, off-street 168km) of all comparison cities.

The Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA) released their Mid-Campaign Mayoral Candidate Report Card last week. The organization ranked five of the mayoral candidates based on their commitment to the following six categories:

TCAT Director Nancy Smith Lea gave a presentation on Clean Air Partnership’s study “Bike Lanes, On-Street Parking and Business, Year 2 Report: A Study of Bloor Street in Toronto's Bloor West Village" to the Toronto Cycling Advisory Committee on June 7, 2010.

The University of British Columbia’s cycling research program, Cycling in Cities, released its preliminary findings of their Bicyclists' Injuries and the Cycling Environment study. TCAT first announced this study in 2007 when we were brought on as a consultant for Toronto.

The release this month of Changing Gears: Toronto for Cyclists documents cycling improvements in the city thus far and provides encouraging statistics about ridership. The report sets 7 priorities:

Interested in finding out more about best policy and implementation practices to create complete streets? Barbara McCann, Executive Director of the Complete Streets Coalition has recently published a book on the topic available here.

There are several exciting and ambitious active transportation reports going forward to the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee (PWIC) next week. Some, but not all, will require a strong show of community support in order to be approved at PWIC on Apr 20th and by City Council on May 11-12. Please email your support for these motions by April 19th at 12:00 noon to Candy Davidovits, Committee Administrator at cdavidov@toronto.ca or 416-392-8032.